Health and Wellness – The New Luxury Status Symbol

“Feeling good is the new looking good” was the mantra at the annual gathering at VOICES this year.

Growing up, it was easy to define the word “luxury”, but nowadays, it can be quite hard to define. Tastes have changed drastically in the last few years.

I remember a splurge for my parents was buying a car with leather seats, but we have evolved. Realizing that happiness and wellbeing isn’t derived from things but from feeling good.

Growing up, there was so much emphasis placed on wealth and your material possessions, which never bought complete happiness. I remember as a kid, I would watch my parents work like dogs for a two-week vacation at an expensive resort.

People are tired of collecting things that clutter their lives, they are searching for experiences that leave them feeling transformed and renewed. A prime example of what is considered to be a luxury now can be observed in our lifestyles, diet and clothing

I’m so happy that I am raising my children in an environment that views our personal happiness as a luxury, making us strive for self-improvement and investing in ourselves instead of the future.

Here are three of the biggest changes as to how wellness has influenced our point of view of luxury:

Food

Growing up, I recall it was considered a luxury to eat out at the mainstream fast-food restaurants or getting to eat a TV dinner at home. We would boast about the fact of chowing down on a Big-Mac on the weekend.

Plus, the health food store was this odd-smelling store that would be visited by people with incurable diseases. Dieting was something performed by so-called hippies, who were not a picture of health.

But fast-forwarding into the future, luxury food items are considered fresh guacamole made from organic avocados and tomatoes. Fast food is avoided and if you happen to eat there, you would never mention it to anyone. Fast food restaurants are trying to make healthy, more wholesome meals.

Smoothie bars are popping up left and right. TV dinners are being replaced with home-delivery, make-it yourself kits by using only wholesome, fresh ingredients. I am so thankful that my children know what food should really taste like.

Clothing

Growing up, brand names and luxury goods was a way of showing the world your social status and wealth. Wearing uncomfortable clothes stereotyped you and everyone around you. Women were expected to hide their bodies behind baggy pants and shirts, unless you were blessed with a perfect size 4.

Today, stereotypes and stigmas around women’s clothing are being recreated, allowing women to embrace their bodies and curves for who they are naturally.

So-called glamor wear has vanished into thin air and replaced with athleisure wear, which has changed the way we dress, Jeans have been replaced with more comfortable jeggings, leggings and yoga pants are considered a must have for every women. Shapewear has become a fashion statement and not an unmentionable.

Lifestyle

My parents both worked at large companies from 9 to 5, with long commutes each day to work and little vacation time. They were expected to have a big house with the white picket fence and keep up with the Jones’. I never wanted their humdrum lifestyle.

Now, we are encouraged to work from home, we can live anywhere in the world, however we want and there are no Jones’ to keep up with. Everyone around is trying to get out of the rat race and simplify their lives, not complicate it with debt or unnecessary pressures.

Living in a world that places more importance on your personal happiness than flashy luxurious jewellery, is definitely a world that I want to keep and raise my family in.